I have traced my ancestry to Ballyardel or Ballyardle in the Kingdom of Mourne area of County Down, and would like to know what that is in Irish and what it means. My copy of Dinneen's dictionary arrived today, and I wondered if Ard meaning "mount" was involved. Does anyone know, is there a good source for Gaelic version of place names?

By the way, a good list of the Irish/English versions of surnames is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/irenames.htm

Baile Ardghall de réir Flanagan & Flanagan, leis an gciall "Homestead of the high standing stone". Níl a fhios agam an bhfuil an ceart acu. Caveat emptor regarding the meaning!

Thank you for your help. I see on the Internet that Ardghall is also a name of various kings of Ireland...

Tá fáilte romhat (you're welcome).

Ardghall makes transparent sense as a personal name in early Irish, easily analyzed as ard (high, tall) + gall (foreigner). The term Fionnghall (fair-haired stranger = Norseman) is still with us, and Old Irish had dub[h]g[h]all (black-foreigner = a Dane).

Agus anois ta duine dá sliocht mar aire dlí agus cirt againn. Na Danair úd...